Yankees add lefty bats Joey Gallo, Anthony Rizzo: PSA Community Reaction

When Yankees fans woke up on Wednesday morning, they learned that Brian Cashman had traded relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson for a player to be named later. Immediately, speculation began to swirl. Were the Yankees going to be sellers? Was the move purely a salary dump? Or, as most fans hoped, was the trade — which cleared two spots on the 40-man roster — the precursor to another move, a bigger move, a move that would excite the fanbase and inject life into a team that had, to this point of the season, seemed about as lifeless as an extra on The Walking Dead.

Then, with Yankees fans stressing over the fact that Aaron Judge was a late scratch from the lineup and Nestor Cortes was matching zeroes with Michael Wacha, the news came out, first from Texas Rangers beat reporter Levi Weaver, then others, that the Yankees were nearing a massive, six-player swap with the Rangers that would bring Joey Gallo and reliever Joely Rodríguez to the Bronx.

Needless to say, commenters in the game thread immediately stopped talking about the game.

There was a lot of excitement that Brian Cashman went all-in on a star at the deadline, as the last big name that the Yankees acquired at the deadline was Sonny Gray in 2017.

And then, to nobody’s surprise, the My Cousin Vinny references began in earnest.

It wasn’t all fun and games, however, as other commenters began discussing the reported prospect package that would be sent to Texas — a package that the beat had conflicting reports on, and which thus sparked conversation that continued through the night.

Of course, then Michael Kay had to throw some water on the excitement by saying on the YES broadcast that it was not yet a done deal, which was true, but also not what anybody wanted to hear at the time.

Unfortunately, that confirmation did not arrive until the next day, right before the Yankees’ disastrous showing against the Rays. Any optimism from the acquisition and the series win over the division rivals was immediately hampered by the absolutely brutal loss.

But then, amidst all the despair and “The season is over” comments in the game recap, PSA commenter #UsetheOpener!!! dropped a bombshell from Jack Curry’s Twitter account.

Yep, that’s right, Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo — who many had pegged as headed to Boston as recent as yesterday afternoon — was heading to the Bronx! Much of the rest of the night was spent drooling over the various permutations that the Yankees lineup could take in the upcoming days.

True, while it seems likely that this deal means that Luke Voit is going to be flipped in another trade, it’s hard not to get excited that the Yankees now have a lefty-swinging, four-time Gold Glove winner whose 116 OPS+ on the season is a “down year” for him. And to make things even better...ESPN’s Marly Rivera tweeted immediately after the trade went down, “#Yankees source says: “We are not done.” Do with that what you will.” So we might be back for more before today’s 4:00 deadline.

And so now I turn the question back to you, readers of Pinstripe Alley. What’s your gut reaction to the Yankees’ newest acquisitions? Vote in our polls, and let us know in the comments section below!